Chapter Text
Okonogi’s eyes widened as her fingers stilled momentarily on the keyboard when she heard the Vice-Captain report that he'd found the Honju. “Really? We’re working on sending reinforcements, but I don’t have eyes down there to help you.” Her stomach was in knots. She couldn’t stand the idea of not being able to help her teammates.
Hoshina’s jaw clenched. “I know. Focus on getting us backup,” he said, his tone grim.
Okonogi felt her voice crack, “Y-you got it.”
The monstrous Honju turned it’s head until it was looking directly at them with it’s glowing amber eyes and let out a roar, its deep, guttural bellow vibrating through the ground, sending cracks splintering along the already precarious lava formations. The air itself seemed to tremble, thick with heat, molten embers swirling violently in the rising currents of fire and destruction.
Hoshina squinted up at the beast, his grip tightening around his swords as he assessed the colossal enemy before them. "As I assumed... he noticed us first..." His tone was dry, almost casual, but there was a razor-sharp edge to it. "And he’s one big fella…"
Estella felt herself panicking for a thousand reasons. They were trapped in here with this creature and no back up, the elements were against them, she knew there was next to nothing she could do with her own gun.
Once again... her burden was completely on him. At the very least, he needed to have a fully functional mask to fight with. Estella once again insisted, “Shi-shi, if you’re gonna fight, switch masks with me again. It’s the only way -”
“No.” The single word was firm, absolute. She could tell that her precious vice-captain was already in kaiju slayer mode again as he continued, “The risk of encountering an ash cloud is now higher than it was before now that all those yoju shells are there. This is exactly when you need to be wearing it the most. No arguments.”
Estella’s lips parted slightly, ready to fight him on it—but something in his mannerisms stopped her. It’s not like she didn’t understand where he was coming from. She understood that her suggestion put her own life in greater danger and she didn’t need him to vocalize that he would never be on board with that.
Her grip tightened on her gun.
But still, she felt like a coward. A failure. She desperately needed to feel like she could accomplish something without just weighing others down.
This was the only negative part of their relationship she’d encountered so far: because he was so capable, it was impossible not to see her own short-comings like a spotlight on her at all times.
The cavern shook violently as the monster let out another roar and began to move towards them so Hoshina launched forward, moving with fluid, practiced ease, leaping from one island of cooled lava to the next, as he crossed the cavern and towards the kaiju.
Estella kept her gaze fixed on both of them so she would be ready for any opportunity to back him up.
This was a battlefield that could shift, crack, or collapse at any second. Every heartbeat pounded with anticipation—not just because of the fight ahead, but because every decision, every movement, had to be perfect. For if one of them mis stepped, there would be no second chance. Their suits were designed to withstand high levels of heat, but the lava would burn through and burn them alive in seconds.
And based on how bad she was sweating, with no way to hydrate themselves either, this battle wasn’t going to be easy.
Everything was stacked against them right now.
As she watched Hoshina move, her pulse quickened. When the kaiju used one of it’s obsidian and rock twisted arms to swing at Hoshina, he effortlessly jumped over it and landed on a cooled rock section on the other side, avoiding the splatters of lava before using it as a platform to jump even closer.
As Estella knelt at the edge of the cavern, her gun aimed, finger on the trigger, her thoughts wandered as she watched Hoshina take on this creature alone. I wonder what it’s like… to be so capable.
The memory of Wic’s words echoed through her heart, a cold, piercing weight against the heat of battle.
"Everyone talks about what it’s like to grieve what you’ve lost, but people don’t talk enough about what it’s like to grieve something you never had. That’s your grief, Stella. You grieve the marathons you’ll never run, the mountains you’ll never climb..."
A lump formed in her throat. Every day since the very first day, he’s gone out of his way for me. He helped me, protected me, and cared for me in ways I struggled to understand or accept. But that’s just who he is.
Already knowing the outcome but needing to be sure, Estella turned her scope towards the red dot hovering between the kaiju’s eyes. It took only a second for her to line her shot up but when she pulled the trigger, she was answered with nothing but the sharp crack of a bullet being deflected and the honju didn’t even flinch. Unlike it’s lizard yoju counterparts, it had a big clunky piece of rock armor between it’s eyes over the x that was the only weakness on the other kaiju.
Her stomach twisted painfully as she lowered the tip of her gun. The darkness wrapped around her hand on the trigger, pulling her down, trying to pull her under again. How could she think for even a second that she had any right to be standing here . She wasn’t like him at all... she wasn’t capable of anything except dragging people down with her. But he was everything good where she was everything bad. You’re respectable, charismatic, honest. You’re so dependable that it’s hard not to rely on you so much... I didn’t mean to hurt you with what I said. God, I hate that I did. But it’s hard not to notice everything I’m not. To notice everything I can’t do in return for you.
Her chest tightened, shame creeping in as her hands trembled on her weapon. Hoshina was expertly going for the weakest parts of the kaiju – the narrow links in it’s arms – while trying to close the distance and be able to do some real damage to it’s body.
And she was just... standing there. Sometimes it feels shamefully one-sided between us. Yet…
She thought about yesterday’s laughter after she brought him some soba noodles and they enjoyed each others company while they ate. It was such a small thing but he reacted in a way that lit up her entire world.
Her throat tightened up, her chest ached, and her eyes glassed over with emotion. Despite my anxiety, my quirks, my endless needs... you still make me feel like every little thing I do matters. You’re the first person in my life... that’s made me feel like I’m really enough. That I don’t have to be more.
Just as Hoshina was finally able to close the last bit of distance and get a jump right for the creatures face, it opened it’s massive rock-lipped mouth and a wave of heat burst out of it. Hoshina had to put his arms up to block it but that was just the precursor for the jet stream of lava that erupted from it’s mouth.
Hoshina barely landed back on the arm in time to use as a spring board to jump out of the way of the blast but saw that the lava scored right over the kaiju’s arm where he’d just been, soldering it off without any reaction from the beast. He landed on a small patch of cooled lava and turned back towards the arm.
Hoshina cursed to himself as he watched it dip the severed arm back into the lava pool in the bottom of the cavern and when it came back up, several new rocks were melted back in place of the other ones. So, the arms weren’t actually a part of the kaiju, it was just heating and cooling it’s body to link them together. Which meant any damage done to the arms makes no progress towards taking down the honju. Just a necessary evil to keep from getting squashed.
While he was focused on that arm, he didn’t realize until too late as another arm from the other side came swinging across the cavern towards him. He raised both blades up to defend himself, knowing the velocity was going to be too great for him to attack back against, but as the rock arm whipped towards him, what sounded like shattering glass echoed through the chamber.
Burst by burst ice suddenly bloomed over the arm where it was going to intersect with where Hoshina was standing. The rock, rapidly being cooled from the intense heat already started to crack under the surface.
So instead of defending, Hoshina adjusted his stance last minute and sliced both blades through, severing the arm right as it crossed his path and sending the end of it flinging up into the orange glowing cavern wall where it stuck in like a dart on a board.
Estella finally let her breath go. It worked.
Maybe there was something to Cece’s theory after all. The moment she saw the kaiju lifting it’s arm without Hoshina noticing it, her body had gone into autopilot. For a moment the darkness weighing her limbs down was gone and without fully registering what she was doing, she switched out her artillery with freeze rounds since those had been slowing down the yoju. She might not be able to deliver any damage but instead of standing around uselessly, she could make it easier for him to hit the damn thing.
For a split second, Hoshina’s gaze met hers from the corner of his eye and she saw the smallest flash of a smirk before he jumped back into action, going for the next arm.
Estella’s heart thundered in reaction to the brief look. How...? How does he make it all go away... just like that? How is that with him...I finally... feel like I am enough...?
The molten battlefield blazed, the intense glow of lava casting flickering, unholy shadows across the cavern walls. Every breath was fire, the heat pressing down on them like a living force, threatening to sear the very air from their lungs.
Yet amidst the chaos, Estella’s gaze never left him.
Her eyes tracked Hoshina’s every movement, her mind racing to read his next move. It was just like their evenings in the dojo or the training room... she was watching his hard work pay off with every strike. Through his practice, she had memorized his combat style – perhaps even more so than she realized. She could read every move he was going to make just by how he positioned himself or angled his blade.
She could do this. She didn’t have to stand here useless. She and her broken body could help him .
Like a shirt on too tight, the threads of darkness around her started snapping loose.
When the kaiju tried to grab him once again, Hoshina flipped around and shouted, “Technique no. 5: Mist Slasher!” His blade skimmed the surface of a giant rock of the kaiju’s arm, an energy blast blowing it right back away from him, but his blade couldn’t even begin to penetrate the rocky exterior. He landed with his feet against it and jumped back off, getting out of the way of the other arm swinging around to crush him against it like a bug.
“Damn, it’s tough,” he muttered, his boots landing lightly on a floating island of hardened magma. It wasn't a giant kaiju, but it was fairly large. Still... he should have been able to get through it’s hide – if it wasn’t for the fact that hide was pure rock. He’d fought plenty of these monsters. They always had weaknesses. He just needed to find this one’s.
“Try again!” Estella’s voice cut through his thoughts and pulled his attention momentarily back to her.
“Huh?”
Then—a burst of icy blue streaked past him. The arm he had just tried to slice through exploded with ice all over it from where the cryo rounds she fired slammed into it. The moment they hit, the honju’s limb crackled, frost spreading rapidly, turning the once-molten rock brittle.
Recognition flashed in Hoshina’s eyes before a big ol grin complete with a flash of his fangs split his face and he said, “I gotcha.” With those eyes of hers, they might be able to coordinate their attacks and break through the rock!
His blades flashed like lightning, slashing through the now-weakened arm, the cryo-enhanced destruction sending cracks splintering outward. The rock shattered like glass under his blade – not to mention a refreshing burst of cool air in this sweltering lava chamber.
No sooner had he sliced through that arm then another one came swinging at him from the other direction. Estella, swift as lightning could target exactly where it’s impact point with him would be and swiftly iced it over.
At the same time, Hoshina had been planning how he would move to get to the place she shot, but realized her aim was so sharp he didn’t have to move at all – he just had to get the timing right.
And now that he knew that...
...he picked up the pace.
At first he waited for the kaiju to swing at him but in doing so, it was able to dip it’s arms back into the lava and rebuild them too quickly – he was never going to make ground on getting closer to the main body and do real damage.
He glanced briefly at Estella again. When he saw her tongue sticking out and a grin on her face, he knew that she was locked in. So, he gave it a shot and instead of waiting, when he slashed through the next iced over arm, he landed on it and propelled himself further down it in the direction of the body and off towards the next arm swinging towards him.
Estella didn’t take her eyes off of him for a second. She had started to share the same thought – at the rate they were going they were in a stalemate with the kaiju and they needed to attack faster. She’d been tempted to shout something to him, but when he zipped down one rocky limb, she knew that he was already on the same page as her.
The moment he twisted his ankle to turn and leap, she knew exactly where the ice needed to be. She fired another shot exactly where he closed in on the arm and iced it over just in time for him to swing his blade down, “Return Slasher!”
Estella knew the move he was going to use when she saw the way he flipped his wrist and the scope of her gun was already back on the arm he was propelling himself back towards. “How about a two for one, Soshiro?”
Hoshina grinned when he saw ice where he was originally going to land, but instead readied his blades, the keychains rattling on either side of his head, “What, is that your way of telling me to pick up the pace, Stel?”
With a perfect x strike, he shattered the arm, dropping down along with the rain of ice shards to the small island amongst the lava flow.
Estella scooped her hair back out of her face and with it, the coat of darkness wrapped around neck flew away in the wind.
Maybe she didn’t know her place or her value to the world. Maybe she didn’t even know her value or place to the Defense Force either, yet.
But she knew exactly what her value right here was. She knew her value with him; because of him.
She was his partner. And he was hers.
Hoshina’s feet barely landed before he was off again.
Faster.
They both picked up the pace, their moves in perfect sync as they tore down the limbs of the turtle kaiju that snarled in rage at them.
But they wouldn’t give it a chance to fight back.
Again and again, they attacked in tandem—
She froze, he shattered.
She weakened, he destroyed.
Each coordinated strike tore through the honju’s monstrous limbs, forcing the behemoth to recoil.
In the operations room, Okonogi found herself unable to take her eyes off the footage up on the screen from Hoshina’s suit. Yoshio sat nearby her with his laptop in his lap, gawking at the same screen. Both of them were silent as they watched the vice-captain of the Third Division take on a Honju in such extreme conditions and his only back up a disabled soldier.
In fact, all of the operations team was watching in captive silence.
But they were making it look like a walk in the park.
Okonogi adjusted her glasses and whispered, “I’ll admit... I was... really worried about the Vice-Captain. All of these elements against him and I thought he’d be fighting alone. But... it’s like Stella can... read his mind or something.”
Yoshio smirked at her. “Those two have been inseparable from the moment they met. Whatever her reasons or the status of their relationship, her eyes have been on him day after day. I think it’d honestly be more surprising if she couldn’t read his mind.”
The smallest smile curved Okonogi’s lips, “I suppose that’s a fair point. I just... still can’t help but be impressed. I never would have imagined that after being in her situation for so long, that she could end up being this good.”
Yoshio smirked, “She just needed someone to give her a chance. But at the same time...” He pressed the button on the comm in his ear and reported, “Stella, your core temperature 100.2 and your heart rate just hit it’s highest in the battle yet at 147. You’re not in the danger zone yet but keep an eye on it.”
Estella didn’t falter in the slightest when she heard Yoshio’s report come through. For once she could actually feel the pressure on her body so she knew that she was walking a thin line. But there was no way in hell she was going to stop now.
Hoshina was getting so close to finally getting a strike at the rock-armored kaiju’s face. After a particularly close strike that was just barely blocked by a small rocky nub of an arm, Estella’s attention was pulled away when she noticed a bubble forming in the lava pool in front of her. She backed up several steps as another appendage raised up out of the lava flow.
As soon as it was out, it slammed back onto the ground and then suddenly started sweeping across the entire length of the cavern.
Hoshina heard the collision the moment it slammed that rock-linked arm down. It had finally figured out how to fight back and was going for taking out Estella first. Smart, but predictable.
After firing a freeze round at the latest arm Hoshina was engaged with, she turned and fired three shots at the arm steamrolling the ground and coming right for her. Just like she had when Hoshina was in her place, she froze over exactly where the arm would collide with her.
She held her ground without defending herself, a knowing smirk on her face. I don’t even have to think about it. I trust you on a purely instinctual level .
Just before the arm was going to slam into her, in a flash of purple too quick for the eye to follow, Hoshina landed right in front of her and the arm shattered, splintering in all directions while the detached tip of the arm once again went rolling into the cavern wall.
Without missing a beat, now that the two of them were back in close proximity again, the honju opened up it’s mouth, the back of it once again glowing with the presence of boiling lava. A screech ripped through the chamber as it fired a jetstream of lava at them. A searing blast of magma exploded outward, an inferno of destruction, molten rock surging across the battlefield like a tsunami of death.
But Hoshina was faster. He lunged, wrapping an arm around Estella’s waist and scooped her up as he jumped out of the path of destruction. His feet barely found footing as they jumped from one crumbling rock island to the next, the ground disappearing behind them, swallowed by fire and lava.
Unfortunately, the honju’s attack was multi-purposed. As it seared across the cavern, it was melting the precious amounts of land they had to jump between. As more and more lava filled the chamber, it was like the air itself was burning.
And if that wasn’t enough, a fresh nightmare emerged.
Another, previously unaccounted for, monstrous limb rose from the opposite direction – where Hoshina was running towards, jagged and burning, another strike already descending toward them.
Hoshina planted his feet and urgently barked, “Stella - !”
She had already seen it and was a step ahead. She twisted in his hold and aimed her gun quickly and effortlessly over his opposite shoulder, lining her shot up with the quickly approaching arm of destruction.
The cryo rounds hit the massive arm of the honju, coating it in a brittle layer of ice. With a swift, precise motion, Hoshina charged forward and slashed through the frozen limb, his momentum carrying him forward off the last edge of ground they had in the cavern and jumped up to slam his sword into a nearby wall, using it as an anchor to steady himself against it. With Estella hanging off his shoulders like a too-comfortable-cat, he held both of them up on the wall using his foot and sword. The lack of footing in the cavern was quickly becoming an issue and their only way in or out now had become a river of molten rock.
“There’s even more arms still hidden in the lava... great. Like this bastard didn’t have enough advantage,” he muttered, his tone laced with both exasperation and grim humor.
Estella was using the brief moment she had to load a new ice cartridge into her gun. He was absolutely right; unless one of them suddenly sprouted wings, their disadvantage was getting worse. Not to mention she could feel herself getting hotter. She’d probably broken 101 degrees on her internal temp by now. She didn’t know what the threshold was but eventually she’d hit a number that her body wouldn’t be able to pull her back from.
The odds were not in their favor.
Just then, a crackle came over the comms. “Vice-Captain, your vitals are irregular. Are you alright?” Okonogi’s concerned voice echoed in Hoshina’s ear.
“I’m fine, Okonogi,” Hoshina replied a bit too quickly, though his steady facade betrayed the strain of the battle.
They all knew the same thing without saying it: they couldn’t drag this battle out any longer. They had to go for a Hail Mary move right here and now.
Hoshina quickly verified, “Okonogi, where’s our rescue at?”
Okonogi pulled up another panel that had the excavation teams status and she reported, “I redirected them to the two of you. They’re almost on site but... they’ll still need time to dig through if there’s not a way in.”
Hoshina’s eyes narrowed as he asked, “Alright, Stella, is the core in the same place as the Yoju’s?”
Estella's gaze shifted to the giant rock armor plate on the kaiju’s face. “Yep, right between its eyes.”
Hoshina snorted. “Of course—where it’s it's sporting that sweet ass double layered rock mask.”
“Typical kaiju,” Estella muttered with a wry smile, even as the creature prepared another blast. “Looking cool and being a total pain in the ass.”
Hoshina tossed a quick glance at her. He was worried if she’d be able to fight after what happened, but her tone and spirits seemed to be almost back to normal. That was a relief.
“We’re running out of ground to walk on,” Hoshina warned, his gaze going back to the kaiju. “There’s nowhere with a wide enough space for you to stand on safely.”
“Don’t worry about me,” Estella replied, her tone confident.
Hoshina started to protest, “Stel—”
The moment she heard his tone, she realized how he could interpret what she was saying, “N-no not like that! I mean I have it under control! I’ll be fine. I promise you.”
Before he could argue further, the honju fired off another stream of lava. Forced to jump out of harm’s way, Hoshina found himself quickly looking for somewhere they could land that wouldn’t melt them instantly.
Quickly, Estella fired a freeze round right at the lava, and a sheet of ice spread temporarily over a patch of it. Using that frozen platform, he landed on the ice sheet. The moment he did, she fired to a next patch—each burst of cryo rounds creating a brief, icy stepping-stone path that allowed him to traverse the deadly, molten ground. Finally, Hoshina reached a remaining, relatively stable rock formation and gently set her down.
Panting, he asked, “How are you on ammo? Can you keep it up?”
“We don’t really have a choice do we? I’m not worried about ammo yet,” Estella shot back, her eyes never leaving the target.
“Good,” Hoshina replied, his voice low and focused. “Keep your eyes peeled for those arms— We can’t play it safe anymore, I’m going for the core.”
Estella readied herself at the same time he did. Her attention was pulled abruptly away by the rattle of the keychains on his blades – the ones she gave him. The tiniest, simplest gesture she could have offered and yet he treated it like it meant the world to him. The little, simple things were more than enough to him.
She was enough.
It suddenly felt like she could breathe for the first time in years and all of the heavy lead veins of darkness that had been growing through her body withered and died while she stood here, on the battlefield at his side .
No one else had this effect on her – not even Domino and Cece. It was true they accepted her for exactly who she was, but they didn’t make her feel... empowered in her own skin. Like the little she could do was important.
Somehow, even in a situation as nightmarish as this... his love made her feel unstoppable.
This was the place she belonged. This was where she did have value. With him; together they could carve their place out in this world.
With his blades and her eyes; the darkness had no place here on their battlefield.
And with that, the Vice-Captain charged straight ahead, leaping off the edge of the rock outcropping they were on and jumped to the nearest arm, using it as a platform to keep going. He wasn’t stopping to cut the arms down as he went, which meant they had more of a tangled mess to watch for.
A couple close calls were narrowly avoided with a last minute change up to their pattern of icing and slicing.
It was going well – he was getting close to the Honju’s body. But realizing that he was going for the creature himself instead of cutting the arms, when Hoshina landed again, the kaiju swung that arm abruptly a different direction, whipping it back towards the nest of obsidian blooms making up the shell of it’s body.
Estella’s eyes followed and widened when, before Hoshina could jump back away, a violent burst of ash and molten debris spewed from one of the obsidian flower blooms.
It was blinding; suffocating.
The Honju was smarter than they’d realized and had been waiting for them to get too quick and start making mistakes. He hadn’t noticed its arms focusing on pulling him back towards the nest.
“Soshiro!” Estella’s voice tore through the chaos, sharp and desperate as she searched for his body in the toxic cloud.
Finally, Hoshina jerked back, coughing violently, his body twisting midair as he tried to get away from it. "Crap…!"
It was like watching all of her worst fears come to life. He was trying to catch his breath, his body lunging back mid-air over a giant pool of lava while from the other side, another arm was already coming at him, aiming to bat him down and away like a fly.
She aimed her gun, knowing Hoshina couldn't reorient himself in time to defend himself. Instead of hitting the rock arm directly with the freeze rounds, she hit it at an angle so the arm’s trajectory was upset and nicked Hoshina instead of hitting him directly. But she didn’t have time to catch her breath. Hoshina was flying straight towards the lava, trying to get his bearings as he recovered from the blast of toxic gas.
Reading the path he was taking, Estella shot the lava right before he landed, giving him a surface to land on and slide across as he finished coughing the mess out of his system. He finally jumped off of the ice patch before it melted and landed on another very small rock out-cropping.
Estella started to call out to him when she heard hissing erupting one after the other across the cavern. The obsidian and rock blooms, the nest of yoju on the honju’s back, the future doom they dreaded...
...all started erupting at once.
Toxic ash clouds started gushing forth from each of the blooms, quickly filling the cavern with the poisonous smoke.
“No… no, no…!” Estella’s voice rose in alarm as the visibility around them plummeted, thick plumes of black and gray smoke swallowing the battlefield.
Hoshina’s throat burned as he coughed violently, staggering back. “Damn bastard…” His knees nearly buckling under the intensity of his coughing. “He’s filled the entire cave with this shit…”
His breaths grew more ragged, each inhale like swallowing fire. Every breath meant to relieve him of pain was making it ten times worse. His lungs were already giving out.
It didn’t help when Okonogi shouted in his ear, “Vice-Captain! Your oxygen levels are dropping!”
His lungs were giving out.
His vision blurred.
But he had to keep fighting. There wasn’t a miracle rescue that was going to make it here on time. They had no back up and Estella couldn’t fight this thing alone.
As he started to consider that it was maybe time to use the smoke as coverage to find an exit, he realized they were too far past that point. The ash in front of him suddenly cleared like a burst of wind had come through – because it had.
One of the kaiju’s arms was right there. It was already in a full-arched swing and Hoshina didn’t even have a proper grasp on his sword due to the coughing fit.
Time slowed almost to a crawl as he realized he was about to take this swing full force so all he could do was brace for impact.
But in the tiny space and time between him and inevitable blow, someone had been even faster.
And, of course she was.
Hoshina’s eyes widened as Estella, who’d followed the sound of his coughing through the smoke, lunged off the ice patch she’d created for herself and intercepted the swing of the kaiju’s arm.
Her body curled up, tucking as much of it behind her gun as possible as she tried to use the tiny weapon like a shield since she had nothing else to block with.
The moment she felt the impact, she felt her body surrender to the blow, several of her joints dislocating without resistance, absorbing majority of the impact before the inertia finally caught up and sent her flying – straight into Hoshina – and both of them straight up into the domed cavern wall.
Yoshio gasped when alarms went off all over his tablet and he shouted into his comm to Estella, “4 dislocations and 7 subluxations! Are you alright? Majority of them are all your right side! Were you hit?”
Okonogi was also furiously swiping screens, trying to find any way to understand what was going on now that they lost visibility through the suits cameras.
Hoshina moved with a single minded instinct – to protect Estella. Without conscious thought, as soon as his back collided and fractured the cavern wall, he slammed one of his swords into the rock to hold himself up as his body started to slip back towards the lava pool.
His other sword he had dropped on the outcropping at the moment of impact and he was glad, because the second Estella started to slip, he grabbed her arm, both of them gasping when her body dropped, yanking hard on her limb and they both heard the sickening pop and crunch of her shoulder dislocating from socket.
“Ow, fuck!” Estella screeched, her teeth clenching tight to bite back the pain.
Yoshio breathlessly corrected, “5 dislocations! Stella!?”
Hoshina was still struggling to breathe. He was barely recovered from the ash cloud hitting his lungs enough to process that Estella had jumped in the way of the Honju’s strike. Let alone able to comprehend the weight of this moment where he was still violently fighting a coughing fit that was only getting worse and his sword and his heels digging into the cavern wall were the only thing keeping Estella from falling into a pool of lava.
Pained noises were eking out Estella who was dangling above the lava from a dislocated arm. He couldn’t imagine the pain she was in at the moment, but all he could think about was keeping his grip on her wrist through his coughing fit.
His mind was everywhere all at once. He didn’t know how to get them out of this situation. He didn’t know how to get her to safety. He couldn’t stop coughing long enough to think of a way out.
He could feel Estella’s arm trembling in his grasp. He knew the sound he’d heard well enough to know there was a dislocation somewhere in her arm. She was in agony, barely holding on, but her grip on him didn’t loosen.
Neither did his.
Hoshina refused to let go.
Not now.
Not ever.
Through the choking haze, they could barely make out the glowing amber eyes watching them from the smoke—a silent, menacing reminder of the danger lurking all around. It wasn’t just the lava that was an imminent threat either.
But Estella wasn’t simply dangling and waiting for something to happen.
In a desperate bid to regain control of the situation, Estella used her knees to force a reload of her gun – which was now cracked from the impact with the honju but she prayed it still worked, her determination etched on her strained face. Hoshina cursed under his breath, feeling himself starting to slip, burdened by the physical toll and the oppressive atmosphere.
If he dropped her... he’d never live with himself.
So he kept holding on, desperately, while the impressive girl, pushing through the pain of having her dislocated arm bearing all her weight, and prepared for some way to fight back. He hoped she had a plan. Every second that ticked by, he was more afraid of dropping her.
Estella raised her gun, never once doubting that he’d keep a hold of her and aimed it upward rather than at the honju. Since she only had one hand, it was an awkward way to fire, but she did it. This time it was a regular round of bullets and they smashed into the ceiling, causing a cascade of rocks to come crashing down, hitting the massive creature squarely on its head.
It let out an agonized screech of pain as it was buried under several more rocks that came down, not only partially burying the creature, but giving them more ground to land on.
Hoshina, relieved beyond measure, pulled his sword from the wall and landed on the new stable rock island.
As he collapsed against the cool stone, still violently coughing, he managed to choke out, “Your shoulder… you okay?” His voice was thick with concern despite his own pain.
Through the haze, the relentless smog still poured out from beneath the fallen rocks, a grim reminder that the threat was far from over.
Estella messed with her aching shoulder while she knelt to his side, her own body trembling. “I’m fine, don’t worry about me. But the ash is getting worse—switch me, please. I can't fight this thing – only you can. But you can’t if you’re choking on this ash.”
Refusing to take no for an answer, she already started to unclip her mask but Hoshina quickly pressed his hand against it, keeping it firmly against her face. “Don’t...” He ordered breathlessly. “Don’t you dare take that off right now in the middle of this.”
The ground rumbled as the honju tried to free itself and Hoshina sat up, gripping his sword tighter as he elaborated, “It's obvious from what you said earlier - you still don’t know what your life means to me. I know for a fact... after just a few minutes breathing this in myself... if we switch masks... you won’t make it out of here.” The tremble in his voice made Estella’s entire body ache. “I’m not coming out of this cave... without you. So, our only option... is that you let me deal with this. And let me do... what I’ve always been meant to do...” His maroon eyes filled with fierce determination despite wheezing to get his words out as he grabbed the back of her head and tipped their foreheads together “And use these blades to protect what’s important to me.”
"Shi-shi...” Estella’s voice was hoarse but the feelings this time were very different than the first round of this argument. She wanted both of them to make it out. Whatever it took, she would pray for that miracle as many times as necessary.
The rock behind them suddenly exploded as the lava kaiju broke free and lifted itself back out of the molten pool. But it was even angrier than it was before.
Neither of them had a chance to prepare themselves as it fired a quick jetstream of lava at them and it took everything Hoshina had to push himself back up fast enough to grab Estella and jump out of the way, already back to the far side of the new rock island she’d created from the collapse.
When he collapsed the second his feet stopped, Estella gasped, “Soshiro, you can’t keep going like this...!”
Gritting his teeth, Hoshina managed a determined reply, “We just gotta... hold out a little longer. I’ve still got enough gas in the tank to keep... holding him back for a few more rounds.”
Okonogi’s heart was in her throat. She couldn’t make out a lot from the camera on Hoshina’s suit, but enough that she understood the situation. Because of the ash and Hoshina’s damaged mask, he was essentially being poisoned with every breath. Piling on the heat, the kaiju’s strength, the fact they had so little footing...
...this was a losing battle.
Their only hope was with reinforcements getting to them in time.
Estella held him up with trembling arms. “Shi-Shi... You understand that you have to keep our promise too, right? Even if my life means that much to you... it’s devoid of any meaning if you’re not in it.”
Hoshina fell silent, his eyes conveying the weight of unspoken words. Of course he understood that, because that’s how he felt right now. There was a narrow chance that if he’d worn the unbroken mask and been able to keep fighting, that he might have survived this, alone. Because he wouldn’t say it out loud, but he could already feel the iron taste in his mouth from his lungs being torn open by the toxic fumes, and if it was her delicate lungs taking this beating? It would certainly be him alone leaving here.
And that thought was more painful and terrifying than dying.
Estella reloaded her gun with brisk efficiency. “So don’t be reckless... because we both have to go home,” she said firmly.
“I hear ya...loud and clear,” Hoshina replied between coughs.
Just then, a massive arm, still slick with lava and obsidian, came flying at them from the depths of the lava. Despite his coughing, Hoshina sprang into action. In a flurry of motion, Estella fired another round, icing the oncoming limb with precise, freezing shots. Seizing the opening, Hoshina lashed out with his blade, rending the arm cleanly.
Okonogi took a deep, pained breath as she watched the footage alongside Yoshio, “Those two... it’s kind of funny, actually.”
Yoshio demanded curiously, “What about this is funny?”
Okonogi chuckled softly. “Well, the vice-captain really admires and respects Captain Ashiro—so he’s always paving the way for her in battle. But these two… Estella is clearing the path for him instead. You’d never guess this was their first battle together. Stella’s reading every one of his movements, and the vice-captain is going all out because he trusts she’s gonna make every shot.”
Yoshio sighed warmly, “Yeah... those two have a ridiculous amount of trust and love between them.”
Okonogi’s tone was laced with urgency and frustration. “...I just wish reinforcements would get there faster. The heavy forest above is blocking our trucks and machinery—it’s taking too long to start digging.”
Yoshio responded, “Even with Estella blasting part of the cavern ceiling out?”
Okonogi sighed. “It was enough to dictate their location, but it didn’t break through completely. Yota...I...”
Yoshio squeezed her shoulder. “Whatever you’re thinking, don’t. Nothing’s going to happen to these two. They’ll... Figure something out.”
“Like what?” Okonogi’s voice cracked as she begged.
It pained him that both of them knew he didn’t have that answer.
Meanwhile, Hoshina pressed on with a series of precise strikes until he finally reached the honju’s face. At that moment, Estella took aim and fired a cryo shot that iced over it’s rocky shell. With impeccable timing, Hoshina swung his sword in a clean arc, slicing through the frozen mass.
“Core exposed!!” Okonogi’s voice rang out, excitement mixed with relief. If they could just get one good hit on it then this would be over!
Hoshina grimaced, annoyed with himself that he didn’t get the core, too. “Shit—it wasn’t deep enough!”
Almost immediately, a massive arm came hurtling at him from the side. Reacting quickly, Estella fired another cryo round, freezing the oncoming limb solid.
But instead of slicing through the weakened appendage like he had been doing, Hoshina started coughing violently from the toxic fumes; all he could do was raise his swords to block. The arm slammed him into a wall with a resounding crash, fracturing the rock under the strength of it.
“Soshiro!!!” Estella screamed, her voice echoing in the cavern as she rushed to his aid.
The honju, enraged, lashed out with its other colossal arms, trying to smack Estella down before she could get to him. Yet, with agile precision, she leaped over each sweeping limb. Hoshina’s body, completely out of strength, peeled off the broken rock and started to plummet towards the lava.
She ran faster, leaping off the edge of the closest rock island, catching him before he fell into the magma and landed on the opposite closest rocky outcrop. His sword fell from his hand and rattled to the ground.
Hoshina’s vision blurred, the swirling ash and smoke suffocating the world around him. His strength was fading fast, his body too battered, too spent to keep up with the fight.
Every breath took all his effort.
Every movement harder than the next.
He knew his body wouldn’t last much longer. Not like this. With a strangled whisper, he rasped, “Stella… you gotta get outta here.”
The words tore at him, even as he spoke them. He didn’t want to give up on their promise but he needed her to survive, no matter what else. There was nothing he was more sure of in the world than the fact that he wanted her to live a long and happy life.
But Estella’s eyes burned and instead of letting go, instead of doing the logical thing, she held him closer. Her voice trembled with desperation. “ We do, Soshiro. Were you listening to me? We—”
She was cut off.
A terrible rumble filled the cavern as the ground beneath them began quaking violently as the Honju’s blazing, malevolent eyes turned upon them through the choking ash.
The air grew heavier as the honju prepared itself to attack again. She couldn’t make out every detail because of the smog but she could make out enough – she could see the glow as the kaiju began collecting energy for another attack.
Gripping him closer to her with one arm, she raised her gun with the other despite knowing it would do no good. But she didn’t know what else to do. Hoshina was too weak to fight anymore. He couldn’t rescue her this time.
She had to do something herself. Or they were both going to die here. Her hand trembled with the realization that she couldn’t think of anything to save them. It was... hopeless.
“Stel, please don’t…” His voice was barely there, but she could still feel his earnest desperation for her to get away. “You can still get out of here...” He tried to pick his sword up again and get up out of her arms as he explained, “I can distract it one last time... long enough to - “
Estella yanked him back. “Stop!” Her voice cracked with anger and desperation, raw emotion spilling over like a dam breaking as her fingers dug into his suit. “Stop trying to do this alone! Why don’t you get it? Why don’t you understand how I feel right now? If the tables were turned, what would you do?”
Her voice rose, shaking, pleading—as if she was trying to force the truth into his stubborn, battle-worn soul.
“Are you telling me the guy who fought tooth and nail to make me let him in would leave me to die?”
Hoshina’s heart clenched as he imagined the scene he never wanted to. Estella sacrificing herself for him while she begged him to run away and pretend they didn’t both know what the end result would be.
He knew the horrible thing he was asking of her... but still... he was desperate for her not to die. She had barely gotten to live... to really live.
“…Of course not.” He answered, weak and breathlessly.
Of course, he wouldn’t.
Of course, he’d fight for her.
Of course, he’d never leave her behind.
He had proven it time and time again.
He knew without a doubt it was the same.
Estella’s voice broke, a whisper of raw emotion threading through every syllable. “So why do you think I will?” She held onto him tighter, her grip so tight it trembled.
She could see the lava flow building in the honju’s mouth through the ash. There was nowhere for her to run to anymore. Lava on all sides. She had already shot down the loose rock in the cavern’s canopy. Neither of them had anything to defend themselves with.
Was this truly how their story ended?
Faintly, they could both hear their names being shouted through comms in their ear pieces, but neither of them were paying any mind to it. There wasn’t a reason to anymore.
Her voice was so quiet it could barely be heard in the ambiance of the giant molten pit. “I don’t know if this relationship means something else to you… but to me, we’re a team. There is no ‘one or the other’—that was the whole point of our promise, Soshiro. To me.”
Hoshina's gaze was almost completely faded out from lack of oxygen. He was still desperately looking for any way out but every ounce of his mental strength was going to staying conscious – to staying with her as long as he could.
Her next words came out soft, yet filled with an ache that only love could bring. It was like the final blow. “I can’t live without you. Not anymore.”
She squeezed his hand and pressed a kiss to the top of his head as she finished with, “So… from here on out, whatever it is, we do it together. Not alone. Not anymore.”
For a long, heart-stopping moment, Hoshina’s mind flashed back.
Back to when they first met.
Back to when she had fought so hard to keep him at arm’s length.
Back to when he had convinced her to let him help, because she had spent her entire life believing she had to bear everything alone.
And now…
Now, she was begging him to do the same.
She was sitting here, in the face of death, talking about the future like this wasn’t the end; like the worst thing imaginable wasn’t about to happen.
With the last of his strength, he reached up and cupped her cheek, tipping her head so he could see her smiling still...
...even in a moment like this.
He whispered hoarsely, “Live, Stella Rae. You deserve to live...”
The Honju reared it’s head back, about to let the blast loose from it’s mouth.
Ignoring the kaijuu completely, she tipped her head down, her lips against his as she whispered, “Not without you.”
Okonogi and Yoshio were both on their feet, both frantically screaming at their computers, the rest of the operations room just as loud - the point it was deafening - as they watched the dark screen glow brighter and brighter as the honju prepared it’s final blast, waiting for the inevitable outcome.
Cece sat perched atop an armored truck, gazing out over a moonlit wooded park. The moon was so full and bright that it could have been mistaken for a silver daylight. From here, the forest was eerily quiet.
Tipping her head back, she raised her hand up so that it looked like the moon was resting on the curve of her thumb as she chanted,
“London Bridge is falling down...
...falling down...
...falling down...
London Bridge is falling down...
...My...
...fair...”
The entire canopy of the underground cavern shattered right above the kaiju, silver-blue light splintering out from behind the creature’s head like a halo from where Estella was knelt down. Her eyes widened as the creature closed it’s mouth out of reaction, terminating the blast that was meant to end their lives. The sky suddenly exploded into view, stars twinkling above them as giant rocks started raining down into the cavern.
At the same time, a completely separate crack appeared in the wall of the cave and exploded outward from a different force on the other side.
The two culprits came into view for Estella at the same time: Domino came gliding down amongst the falling rock from where they must have been standing on the surface. And Kaiju no. 8 came flying through the eruption in the side wall, his fist out, indicating that he had punched through it and came flying into the cavern.
The monstrous honju looked up, just in time to see Domino swing a massive, black-gloved claw down onto its face. With a sickening crunch, the blow shattered the honju’s entire visage, core and all, sending shards of obsidian and flesh and organ flying in all directions.
Estella watched the perfectly choreographed scene play out in slow motion before her.
The impact was cataclysmic—Domino’s strike went through the kaiju and hit the ground so hard that it shattered the surface, fracturing rock in all directions. The honju splattered into a grotesque tableau, a tragic end to a creature of unfathomable might.
Seeing that Domino had made quick and easy work on the kaiju, No. 8 turned his attention on Estella and Hoshina instead, jumping down to the rock they were on, still in danger of the falling debris crushing them and lava splashing up all around them. He scooped up both of them and jumped to a pile of rock that was clear and safe from what he could tell.
But he hadn’t even set them down before Estella urgently begged, “Kafka, take Soshi—he needs treatment right now. Please!” she shouted over the chaos.
Kaiju No. 8 rumbled a protest, “But—”
His voice was drowned out by Estella’s desperate plea. “Please! Domino will help me! He can’t wait! I know the risk, but I'm begging you, please! He can't die...!!!”
They both turned their gaze toward the towering figure of Domino who landed at the very top of the rubble pile the remains of the kaiju had been buried under. Amid the flickering shadows cast by the moon and the glowing lava, all that could be seen were their usually silver eyes glowing an ominous red in the reflection of the small spots of the lava pool left.
In that moment, they didn’t look all that different from a kaiju themselves.